Following yesterday's strong house price data, there are further signs of momentum in the housing market contained in today's mortgage approvals data.
In July, the number of approvals grew by 53pc on an annual basis, with the total value of approvals up by 64pc.
The data can be quite volatile, but this continues a trend that has been in existence since the beginning of the year, said Goodbody Stockbrokers analyst, Dermot O'Leary.
"Indeed, the growth in the value of approvals in the most recent three-month period (+54pc yoy), is in line with that seen in the first quarter of the year (+56pc yoy), despite the fact that there were weak base effects in Q1," he said. "This represents the first indicator of credit trends in Q3. In Q2, the value mortgage drawdowns grew by 59pc yoy, following growth of 72pc yoy in the first quarter. For the year as a whole, we are forecasting total mortgage lending of E3.8bn, up 50pc yoy. These latest approvals data suggest that the market is well on course to achieve this."
"A lot has been said about the effect of dwindling supply on prices in the residential property market. Indeed, we have said that this has been the biggest driver of the surge in prices in Dublin in particular over the past twelve months. However, the effect of rising demand should not be ignored either. With this in mind, speculation that the government is looking at ways to support first-time buyers may simply just act to push up prices even further," said Mr O'Leary.
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